that favors gun ownership rights. republican louis gohmert of texas isannrasupporter.he says if more citizens had guns we would be safer, including the school principal murdered in newtown. >> i wish to god she had had an m-4 in her office looked up so when she heard gunfire she pulls it out and she doesn't have to lung heroically with nothing in her hands but she takes him out. >> flags at federal buildings and at nra headquarters are at half-staff but no comment from the nra telling cbs news there still aren't enough facts about the connecticut crime. fear of the lobby might be exaggerated but it does oppose almost any new regulations, political analyst norman ornstein. >> no member of congress no mat other how safe wants to have some group pouring millions of dollars in dedicated to smearing them or defeating them. >> reporter: we may see a test of strength between two washington power centers, a lobby, the nra and legislators who feel they've got to do something. dan raviv, cbs news at the capitol. >> jeff: still ahead on tonight's "cbs evening news", a warrant's worst fear not r

of people who are, frankly, either evil or crazy. >> glor:thenrasaysexisting gun laws are not being enforced. orgaret brennan has more on what the group would change, and the reaction. >> reporter: the nra is arguing for the creation of a national database of the mentally ill to prevent them from buying weapons. the nra is also lobbying to put armed guards or police in e hools. >> itsive vice president wayne lapierre. >> if it's crazy to call for putting police and armed security in our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy. i'll tell you what the american people-- i think the american people think it's crazy not to do it. gun control laws. in a cbs news poll conducted after the fatal newtown shooting, 57% of americans said that gun control laws should be more strict. that's the highest level of support in a decade. and may provide renewed support for politicians willing to challenge the powerful nra lobby. >> new york senator chuck schumer criticized the nra vice president's argument that any attempt at gun restrictions is bound to fail. >> well, i think he's so extre

, should a plan includethen.r.a.'scallfor putting an armed officer in every school? >> it's total nonsense. >> reporter: no, is the answer from andrei nikitchyuk, whose eight-year-old son was in the hallway at sandy hook elementary school as bullets flew nearby. the solution, he says, is gun control. >> why are we allowing sales of weapons? that is terrible in this country. >> reporter: that is shared by some parents in washington, d.c., where the son of bola aina attends school. >> no, we don't want guns in our school. >> reporter: but some parents here disagree. armed guards, they say, could be part of the answer. >> i think any effort to-- to protect our children is worth it. >> one of the difficulties is being every place, everywhere, all the time. >> reporter: school safety expert ronald stephens says having armed guards at schools could help, but he notes there was an armed deputy sheriff at columbine high school in colorado more than a decade ago. he was unable to stop the killing of 13 people by two heavily armed students. studies show that security measures can make stude